"The Canadian Council of Muslim Women believes in equal participation of women in political parties. Only with more gender equity in the House of Commons...Read more

Samara

Jane Hilderman, Executive Director

“Samara Canada believes a House of Commons that better reflects the diversity of Canadians and their experiences will generate a more resilient and responsive Parliament, and can improve Canadians' willingness to participate in all aspects of public life. Yet many groups – women among them – remain underrepresented today among Canada’s 338 Members of Parliament. MP Kennedy Stewart’s private member’s bill proposes creative new incentives for political parties to increase the number of female candidates selected in riding nominations. Samara Canada welcomes this important public discussion about creating the conditions for a diversity of Canadians, especially women, to enter politics.”

Leadnow.ca

Lyndsay Poaps, Executive Director

“The Leadnow community takes action every day to strengthen democracy from the bottom up. A more diverse and inclusive Parliament – one that better reflects Canadians and their aspirations – is a crucial part of this challenge. Kennedy Stewart’s Bill C-237 will make sure it doesn’t take until 2075 for Canada to achieve gender equality in our House of Commons.”

YWCA

Toronto

“YWCA Toronto supports Bill C-237, the Candidate Gender Equity Act, because women hold only 26% of the seats in the House of Commons. There are also low numbers of visible minority, Aboriginal, queer and disabled women elected federally. This legislation will help correct this imbalance and ensure that more women are shaping change in Canada’s Parliament.”

Fair Vote Canada

Kelly Carmichael, Executive Director

“Canada falls far behind other countries in terms of female representation. With 26% women in Canada's Parliament, we rank 49th in the world, behind a third of the world's parliaments. To reflect in the legislatures the diversity of society we must change the voting system and related laws to remove barriers to the nomination and election of candidates from groups now underrepresented including women, cultural minorities and Aboriginals. This bill addresses the need for fairness in parties' nomination procedures. Fair nominations are an important component of our electoral system. Developing effective measures to address the under-representation of women would complement the Government's promise to Make Every Vote Count when they change the electoral system.”

ACTRA

Ferne Downey, National President

"ACTRA's leadership is committed to equality and ensuring that Canada’s Parliament reflects Canada’s diversity. As a country, we have made significant progress but we know there is much more to do. ACTRA supports this legislation because instead of simply talking about the problem, it proposes a solution: if a political party doesn't take gender equality seriously, then that party shouldn't expect a public subsidy. That's putting our money where our mouth is. That's something our union is proud to support."

Canadian Council of Muslim Women

CCMW

"The Canadian Council of Muslim Women believes in equal participation of women in political parties. Only with more gender equity in the House of Commons will legislation address and reflect the needs of Canadian women.”

Latest News

Next week Parliament begins debating Bill C-237, the Candidate Gender Equity Act. My private member’s bill seeks to change our electoral laws and incentivize political parties to run more women candidates during elections. With Canada ranked 60th in the world when it comes to electing women MPs, it is...

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About Kennedy

You don’t need to be a woman to be a feminist. After studying democracy for decades as a university professor, now I have a chance to make a difference as an MP – that’s why I’ve put forward the Candidate Gender Equity Act. After all, it’s 2016.